The Ontario Natural Building Coalition's Annual
Ontario Natural Building Tour - Sunday Oct 2, 2016
10am - 4pm
Natural building construction uses locally obtained and renewable materials, to produce homes and buildings that are visually unique and healthy to live in, while striving to keep energy consumption and its’ associated emissions as low as possible. As a way of promoting natural building, the Ontario Natural Building Coalition coordinates an annual Natural Homes Tour on the first Sunday of October each year. This year our tour takes place on Sunday October 2 from 10am to 4pm. For this tour, many natural homes and buildings across Ontario open their doors for participants to see examples of straw bale, rammed earth, cob, timber frame, off grid, passive solar, and many other natural building methods and alternative technologies.
Click on the map above to find information and photos of the homes and buildings on the tour - select an area and plan your tour! And check back often, as homes and buildings are being added daily. Visit as many homes and buildings as you would like to for a cost of $10 per person, or by donation. Fee is payable at the first home you visit on the day of the tour.
A list of the homes and locations can be downloaded here.
It's not too late to participate as a home on the tour - if you have a natural home and would like to be a participating home, please contact our coordinator, Cheryl Keetch.
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Another Fabulous Conference!
The 2016 Ontario Natural Building Coalition's
Natural Building Conference & AGM 2016
was held on April 2 and 3, 2016, at Camp Kawartha, near Lakefield.
The weekend included lots of exciting presentations:
- Chris Magwood and meeting the low-carbon challenge with natural building
- Jordan Hoogendam and Greg Leskien explored the relationship between enclosure design decisions and mechanical systems selection
- Three owner-builders told their building stories; what worked, what didn't
- A panel on the building code and natural building included Chris Magwood, Tim Krahn, Jordan Hoogendam and Jeff Chalmers
- Architectural Design with Ingrid Cryns
- Liz Johndrow told of her experiences helping Nicaraguan people preserve their traditional building styles
- Andrew Hellebust on innovative systems for rainwater, grey water and septic
- Networking, great food and drink, and musical jams!
2016 CONFERENCE SPONSORS:
More photos of the 2016 conference here.
Click here for photos of the 2015 conference.
Click here for an article and photos of the 2014 conference.
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Visit our Natural Building Gallery to see houses built out of straw, wood & earth!
A Natural Home Tours Thank You
Over the years, many homes and buildings have participated in our Natural Building Annual tour.
Many of the homes that have been featured were models of innovation and energy efficiency and featured living roofs, natural clay wall finishes, rainwater catchment systems, grey water systems, composting toilets, while others incorporated solar and wind electrical systems, high efficiency wood burning appliances, solar domestic hot water systems, as well as a variety of other interesting green technologies.
The Ontario Natural Building Coalition would like to thank all the volunteer homeowners who have over the years graciously opened their doors and welcomed tour-goers. The annual tour would not be possible without them!
Click here for an article about one of the homes on our recent tour.
